And I Owe It All to You
by The.Squint
Summary: "I'm not usually one to take a guy back on the first date" she looked over at him and shot him a sly smile ... My hope for the upcoming 'First Date' episode - Ness


_**Hello **___

_**I was inspired to write this fic after re-watching the Pilot and looking at how far Nick and Jess have come as characters **_

_**I am very excited for the upcoming 'First Date' episode… This fic is basically what I hope will happen. I very much hope that you enjoy it **___

It had been an uneasy and rather uncomfortable beginning. The fact that she had dressed so casual in jeans with a red and white t-shirt while he had dry-cleaned and was wearing his best, well his _only_ suit had set for a confusing start to the evening. The conversation was slow and fearful to distract away from anything that wasn't the weather or the other two roommates as if to constantly remind themselves that they were also roommates and were in this moment breaking many unspoken rules between male and females roommates in that they should only ever be friends and any attempt to venture further than this would only result in disaster for the entire household.

They were a contrasting pair at first sighting, not only in the style of dress chosen for the occasion but in general; he had a roughness to him that even after shaving seemed to cling to him whilst she was so pure and smooth, her eyes almost ridiculously large and blue whilst his squinted a dark brown and she often smiled while he often frowned, but they shared a quirkiness that others had lost in the midst of growing older from adolescence to adulthood. As the night progressed onwards the clothes they had decided to wear and the anxiety caused over the contrast in their decision seemed to fade away and the quirkiness they shared came through allowing them to find fun in each other as they often did. She would laugh at the true grumpiness of his nature whilst he would stare fascinated at her complete unrealistic positive view on the world; they opposed each other in practically every way and yet attracted one another all the more. This was a fact that they had come to accept and it is what had led them here to this uptown restaurant in which neither truly felt suited and yet it was one that confused them both equally and it was something that they were still avoiding to talk about.

Soon the initial awkwardness of the situation had been forgotten and whilst some may put this down to the third alcoholic drink of the evening, deep down they both knew better than that. As they knew that no matter how awkward things were between them, given the chance they would naturally find joy in one another. Alcohol or not. They irritated each other immensely and yet in the grand scheme of things they made one another happy, even when they would bicker and argue the source was never true anger, as the moment the shouting between them was over they had often forgot what exactly it was that they were shouting about. Perhaps it was their way of an outlet, some form of release for the energy that often bounced between them, and was indeed flowing freely between them now as they laughed at one another across the table and in between their drinks.

They continued to laugh and bicker until they left the restaurant together. They had arrived separately but would walk back together, for they lived at the same address and whilst they both knew and understood this sound and completely logical reasoning they felt a small tremor of panic quiver the air between them. It seemed to them, inexplicably, that they were going _home_ together, in the kind of way that's frowned upon mostly after only one date and soon the conversation was lost as they became panicked at the thought of what the other might expect upon returning to their apartment.

The silence was beginning to get to them both, until she could no longer take it "I'm not usually one to take a guy back on the first date" she looked over at him and shot him a sly smile to confirm the joke she had attempted.

"Not usually huh? Sounds promising" it was too late; the words had escaped before he could catch them and now he wished that the ground would open and swallow him just to remove him from this situation. He squeezed his eyes shut tight, as if the harder he squeezed them, the more likely time would rewind and he could stop himself from saying those careless words "Not that… I'm not saying. I understand what –" he stopped and sighed deeply, before opening his eyes and looked over and her shocked, but mildly amused expression "That's not what I meant Jess"

She smiled, as she often did, which in turn caused him to do the same and even let at a small laugh at his consistent misfortune with words "What I meant is – this does seem a bit weird doesn't it?" he looked over at her as the reminiscence of her last smile played on her lips and the bright lights of the high-street reflected in her large eyes and he found himself in one of those moments he had often found himself in since she had moved into his life; a silent and internal admiration of her beauty, because a man could only be a fool to deny how beautiful she was, but sometimes it took him by surprise, despite the fact that he lived with the woman and saw her often, her beauty still had the ability to shock him in the most spectacular way.

He must have been staring "What is it Nick?" she smiled at him again and his heart seemed to pick up speed, _what was this woman doing to him?_

"Nothing" he lied to himself, and to her, for he was aware by now that this was _something_, but as he had shown earlier, he was not particularly good when it came to words – specifically when trying to explain how he was feeling, words would always fail him in situation such as those and so it was easier for him to lie, what else could he do?

"So what happens now?" she looked over at him and knew that she would have to tread carefully. She seemed to catch him in a moment of deep thought and she wondered what it was that he was thinking – she often found herself thinking this very question, more often as the days went on. As the complexity of things between them increased she would often wonder on his take of things, in particular how he felt towards her, but she knew that he was an impossible man when it came to the expression of emotions. Therefore she knew that she would need to act tentatively with her next question, if she had any hope of getting a true and honest answer.

"What do you mean?" he spoke slowly, almost as if he were nervous about the deeper meaning to her question.

"Well usually after a first date, I would wait for you to call me, but since we live together I guess we can just bypass that rule" then an idea occurred, what some may call stupid, but then those people had lost that quirkiness that would make them see the brilliance to the idea "so I was thinking that maybe instead of trying to talk, we could just write it down instead" she opened her bag and searched for the any scrap paper she had and a couple of pens.

"Really Jess?" he couldn't help but laugh slightly at the childishness of her suggestion, they were adults and should be able to talk freely about how they felt, but then they were adults whom had suffered heartbreak and really perhaps this was just what they needed.

"Would you rather we talk about it?" she looked at him, raising her eyebrows as she did so almost as if to test him, knowing that he would rather do anything other than actually talk about emotions.

"Give me the damn paper" he heard his voice quiver slightly, reflecting the nerves he felt internally. He looked at the small space he had to write in, what exactly? She hadn't been clear on what it was precisely she wanted to know.

It seemed almost funny to think that the words written on the back of this receipt had the ability to change everything between them permanently, because right now they still had the option of going back. He felt as if he were at a junction, in which he had the choice to go back the way he came or turn another way, and head down a road that had never been accessible to him before and that could quite possibly reach a dead end, as every other relationship had been.

He had said to her before that he was not a man whom would enter into situations of which there was an uncertain outcome, he would be the guy on the beach guarding the wallets, but when it came to her he'd noted how he had frequently and willingly found himself in situations he would have otherwise avoided. She brought out that side to him, a side he had forgotten existed – that part of him that wanted more than to pour drinks for strangers his entire life and was willing to take risks.

Yet as he looked onto that small piece of paper before him words seemed to fail him once more, but he was a writer, a novelist to be precise, surely something as small as this should be easy for him? He looked over at her and saw her writing away without hesitation, and his stomached flipped slightly – how could she find this so easy? He thought back to the first time he'd met her and if could ever have imagined two years later walking down the street struggling to express his feelings towards her on the back of a receipt. Of course, there had been that initial attraction between them, but he would have never imagined being on a date with the woman whom had inflicted him to listen to the Dirty Dancing movie for two days straight.

Another memory surfaced. He smiled, and began to write.

They rode the elevator in silence, each holding onto their individual piece of paper; hers folded neatly, whilst his was folded not so neatly. A stranger would never have believed that they were returning from a date given the contrasting clothing and intense atmosphere in the small lift. They watched the levels light up in silence and upon reaching level four, their level, the doors opened and it was suddenly real to them.

The apartment was dark and quiet upon entering with Winston out with Daisy and Schmitt just out, they were alone. It seemed weird to enter into this apartment that they had shared as roommates as anything more than that. They walked towards the corridor space they shared between their bedrooms and turned to face one another. The darkness of the hallway cast a shadow over their expressions making it difficult to really gage what the other was thinking.

Despite the darkened surroundings her eyes were bright and glistened, pulling him in as they did so. Suddenly they realised that neither had spoken for several seconds but their eyes had locked and a moment had begun, an opportunity arose – one that was difficult to deny. Her heart rate increased and her palms began to sweat profoundly.

Her eyes darted to the small piece of paper in his hand and suddenly she had found her voice, she willed herself to defy the power he had over her, just for now – she needed to see what he had written on the back of that receipt.

"So… Do we swap _now_?" her voice was low and like a whisper, not wanting to truly disturb the moment they were in.

He found that he needed to take a deep breath just to break away from her eyes slightly, he placed his hands into tight fists just so that he couldn't reach out in some way – oh, what he would give just to touch her… his mind swam within images. He shook his head lightly, in a desperate attempt to focus on the situation at hand.

He held out his folded receipt and accepted hers – it was like fire in his hands, burning at his skin but he found it difficult to leave her, though he knew that he must. He took one step closer to her so that he was surrounded by her sweet perfume which caused the hairs on his skin to stand on edge, his whole body fighting the urge to quiver under the arousal it felt. Her eyes widened as he lowered his head towards her, his movements slow as not to scare her but he knew that she wouldn't move and that he could take her now if he wanted, and boy did he want to, but rather he let his face brush against hers, her skin like silk against his and planted the softest of kisses he could give on her hot cheek.

Her stomach had knotted so tightly that it was almost painful, her mouth as dry as sandpaper making it impossible to speak even if she wanted to. He removed his face from hers and pulled away slowly, but against her conscious behaviour she found that she had attempted to follow him, causing her to lean forward and nearly fall into him completely had she not have caught herself when she did. Her whole body was trembling.

"Goodnight Jessica" his voice low and husky and she had to fight the urge to moan.

"Goodnight Nick"

Though neither truly meant this parting to be permanent, each hoping that in some way that this night would not end, not on as little as a peck on the cheek – they both wanted more, but equally needed confirmation in the form of a few words of writing on the back of an old receipt, they wanted to feel safe if they were to enter into another relationship, they wanted to know that the other was ready as they were.

He turned from her, against every instinct he had and entered his room and with the closing of his door he furiously opened the small piece of paper and looked upon her neat, curvy handwriting;

'_I like you_

_I even like your turtle face,_

_And I hope that you like me _

_In that way that I hope you do_

_And in the way that I like you'_

She practically ran into her room upon watching Nick's door shut and hurriedly began to open the folded receipt; the nerves attacking her innards are she did so until she looked upon his scruffy handwriting;

'_I've had the time of my life_

_And I've never felt this way before _

_And it's true … I still don't know the words,_

_But I know that this film and this song make you happy_

_And that's all I really want to do…'_

She read the content of the note several times over, causing her smile to widen upon each completion. The fact that it had been written on the back of an old receipt meant nothing for she knew that this would be something she would cherish. She was overcome with emotion, to the point that she wanted to scream for joy, but upon hearing Nick's door open she thought of a better way to release this emotion and ran to open hers also.

His smile was reflected on her face as he watched her door open, and suddenly the small corridor between them was too much and so he began to ascend on her slowly, as she stood her ground waiting for him to reach her.

"Jess, I have liked you in that way since the day I met you" upon reaching her he instinctively put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him so that their bodies were push against each other, he let his other hand gentle tuck a strand of hair behind her ear before cupping her face.

Then, he shouldn't have been surprised when she decided to sing "I've had to time of my life, and I –" he had to place a finger on her lips to silence her.

"Jess, how about we save the singing for later?" he smiled down at her, the woman who sung her way through life and lived with no regrets, the opposite of himself and yet he thought that perhaps they could learn a lot from one another. He could see that there was no backing out of this now and that they had taken that unknown turn at the junction and that things would never be the same, but then he wasn't sure if he wanted them to be and for some inexplicable reason he felt positive that unlike the other relationships ending in dead ends, he felt that this was going to be different, in that this road wouldn't end.

The atmosphere around them appeared to physically drop, becoming heavy – surrounding them, making it difficult to breathe.

"What shall we do instead?" her voice inviting, an invitation he could not refuse

He answered her question with a kiss, one with the intensity of the previous two, but with the intention for more.

_**Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this fic – Please let me know your views **_____


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